


Back Alley Dealings

by KaRaEa



Series: A Conflict of Interest [2]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Awkward Flirting, Damian is confused, Identity Issues, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 21:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5842009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaRaEa/pseuds/KaRaEa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian is covering for Grayson while he's out of town doing... Something. Luckily Damian is more than capable of handling the Nightwing persona. Honestly, it's easy. Until Detective Todd shows up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Back Alley Dealings

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to SomethingWild I am now writing three, no joke, three, batfamily series including co-authoring this one, and she's wheedling for some oneshots too. On the one hand I have never been this prolific, on the other hand GODDAMMIT, H I CAN'T WRITE ALL THE THINGS
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all like awkward flirting and misunderstandings.
> 
> Enjoy!

The suit fit well on Damian, though he’d soon be too tall for it, the stretchy material compensating for most of the small changes in build and mass. It felt wrong though. Like he was wearing his parent’s shoes or a bad fancy dress costume.

He determinedly ignored the slight crease of it under his arms and behind his knees and continued to stalk after the small group of drug dealers ahead of him. They weren’t anything big time, but that fit with Grayson’s instructions before he left. Damian was to deal with enough small time crooks that no one noticed Nightwing’s absence, but was not to tangle with anything higher grade until Grayson got back.

Damian was bored.

Sure, beating up a few idiots who thought praying on the weak made them strong passed the time and merited some satisfaction, but it just wasn’t the high octane, high stakes stuff he was beginning to love. The stuff that was important. A small voice in his mind whispered that he missed the missions that made _him_ feel important.

The alley the dealers converged in, meeting with some who were slightly higher in the chain, was stereotypical enough to have Damian rolling his eyes. He didn’t see why they couldn’t carry out deals in normal places, like he heard half the world’s criminals did. If every alley was home to some underground deal, mugging or rape then it made it pretty easy to know where to go if you wanted to stop that kind of thing. Clearly, Gotham’s population had a thing for dramatics. And that wasn’t counting the ever present legend who still walked the streets in the mind of every scared criminal element in the city.

It was almost child’s play to take out the first two, slipping from the thick mass of shadow that lined every wall of the alley to deal felling blows to each before his presence was even noticed. It brought a bitter smile to his lips when a third member of the party cried out “it’s the Bat!” in terror.

He’d taken out the fifth dealer, leaving him coughing on the floor and not likely to be standing up any time soon, and was turning to deal with the final one when a police badge was thrust in his face. Damian was still frowning in confusion as rough hands reached for him, the sixth crook babbling on about arresting him.

He dodged with ease, but when he thought about it, it was a little too much ease. Like the undercover cop, as he finally managed to realise the sixth was, wasn’t trying too hard. It clicked in his head about the same time he found himself backed up against the alley wall.

“What? No witty remarks this time?” Detective Todd asked as he attempted to frisk Damian, stopping at the utility belt and seeming to have no clue which items to remove first.

Damian swallowed back an insult and tried to think like Grayson. They’d run into Detective Todd a few times now. The man was good at his job. But Damian smugly asserted that they were better, if only to himself. He’d watched the dynamic between Grayson and Todd, knew the kind of back and forth they had. It shouldn’t be too hard to emulate. “Fresh out. I can check in the back, though. Just let me go see. I’ll be back in five, I promise.”

Detective Todd snorted. “There’s the smart mouth we all know and want to punch.”

“Aw, come on. This mouth is far too pretty to punch,” Damian retorted, wondering how long he’d have to keep this going. The detective was standing far too close for comfort.

Detective Todd smirked. “What the hell else would I do with it?”

Ah. Damian knew in theory the kind of thing he should say in response, but those kinds of things just didn’t trip off his tongue as easily as they did Grayson’s. Instead he evaded. Threw Detective Todd a wink and said, “I’m sure you can figure something out.”

Todd shook his head. “Wow, I thought you’d have been out of here by now. What’s wrong? Performance issues?”

Damian’s eyes widened in near panic. Right. He was supposed to be escaping. He licked his lips and resisted the urge to clear his throat. “I swear, this has never happened to me before,” He replied, garnering a quiet snicker. “Must be the company.”

Detective Todd looked up in shock and Damian inwardly cursed. Flirting was really not his thing, even antagonistic flirting, but he was pretty sure insinuating your target gave you erectile problems was not deemed a successful attempt.

“Never gave you any issues before,” Detective Todd looked him up and down, “That bondage suit doesn’t really leave a lot to the imagination.”

A denial and an assertion that the suit had a cup so being able to see… that… would be impossible nearly made it past Damian’s lips before the Detective’s words really caught up with him. Suddenly it made sense. All the flirting, why Todd didn’t try harder to catch them, why he insisted on standing so close. Grayson and the detective were lovers. Damian’s hands clenched with nerves and annoyance. It was so typical of Grayson, to ignore the risks in favour of a good lay, no matter that he was dragging Damian into it. And now Damian had to pose as someone’s lover.

Well, that was just fantastic. As if this wasn’t awkward enough.

***

Admittedly it had taken at least a minute for Jason to realise the vigilante he currently had pinned up against the wall wasn’t the same one he’d been chasing for the past month or so. The one who’d cuffed him, kissed him and fled. But he did realise fairly quickly. At a guess the guy in front of him was the kid who hung around with Nightwing, usually standing in the background making a strange almost tutting noise when Nightwing and Jason traded flirtatious barbs.

It was pretty obvious the kid was filling in for Nightwing and didn’t want anyone to know he wasn’t the real thing. Well, Jason couldn’t say he minded. At a guess the fill in was around 18 or 19, maybe a little older but not much. Definitely not younger, not with those shoulders. He did actually look a little like Nightwing and he filled out the suit nicely. He was also very obviously uncomfortable flirting but making an admirable attempt regardless.

For once since meeting the duo, Jason felt he had the upper hand.

“Maybe you’ve lost your touch,” The little twerp responded, and Jason had to admit, he had the banter down. “Perhaps you should go and find someone amenable to practicing with you.” Okay, maybe not. But it was close.

“Sweetheart, you know you’re the only one that can get me in a pair of handcuffs,” Jason teased. He watched for a moment as the kid floundered. “Of course, if that was an offer…”

A pink tongue made a brief appearance at the corner of the vigilante’s mouth. “Since when do you wait for an invitation?”

Jason’s eyebrows rose, partly at the implied challenge and partly wondering what kind of assumptions the guy was making about him. “Way I remember it, you’re the one who doesn’t ask nicely.”

***

Too much information. Way too much information. Damian was suddenly flooded with images of Grayson pressing Todd up against the wall just like this, pinning him and pressing hard, wet kisses to Todd’s lips. He blinked the images away. “I don’t recall.”

Todd grinned. “What, not any of it?”

Damian shook his head. “Must not have made much of an impression.”

“Well then, let me refresh your memory,” Todd said.

Damian barely had time to open his mouth to respond before Todd’s lips sealed over his. His nose was cold where it brushed Damian’s cheek just below the mask, but his tongue was hot and soft and Damian had the momentary thought that he wanted it all over him. He broke the kiss as soon as the thought struck, because Damian was not a traitor. He would not engage in this kind of behaviour with Grayson’s lover. Even if Grayson had not had the forethought to warn him. Or to tell said lover he would be out of town.

Damian cleared his throat. “Memory refreshed. And now I really must be going.”

Detective Todd didn’t resist when Damian pushed him away and didn’t give chase as Damian fled into the night, cursing Grayson under his breath as he went and wincing at the way the suit was now pinching a very sensitive area. Turned out the cup had its down side.

***

Jason felt a little guilty as he watched the young vigilante sprint away. Perhaps it had been unfair to take it that far when the kid was clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Though he had definitely been kissing back before he rushed off. Jason had been kind of disappointed that it ended so quickly to be honest. It was just getting good. Really good.

Maybe the pretender had just been awkward because he was acting as someone else. Involuntary roleplay probably wasn’t the most fun sexy situation for him.

Jason shrugged and finally called in for back up. His car was not big enough for five drug dealers, no matter how crumpled up they were.


End file.
